Anti-Thatcher Protesters Revive ‘Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead’

The last time “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” was in heavy rotation, the Packard was a hot automobile and Europe was tumbling into war.

But the “Wizard of Oz” tune is experiencing a rebirth in the U.K. this week thanks to the death of Margaret Thatcher.

Anti-Thatcher protesters celebrating the former Prime Minister’s demise have been buying the ditty in record numbers in an effort to propel it to the top of the British pop charts.

That means the song has a shot at being played on BBC Radio 1’s weekly chart-topping-singles show this Sunday, according to the company that compiles the list for the BBC. By Thursday, the song had moved up to No. 4 on the charts, having sold more than 20,000 copies, according to the Official Charts Company.

Campaigns on Facebook and Twitter have fueled the sales, linking to iTunes and Amazon pages where the song can be bought in a few clicks.

Britain’s right-leaning, pro-Thatcher newspapers have slammed the campaigns and called on the BBC not to play the song this Sunday. “It could be the most inappropriate and gratuitously offensive number one hit single ever,” a columnist in the Daily Telegraph wrote Thursday.

A spokeswoman for BBC Radio 1 declined to comment on the delicate politics at play, saying the station “will make a decision about playing it when the final chart positions are clear” on Sunday. The left-leaning Guardian newspaper on Thursday noted that the radio station might need to “explain why a song from the 30s is charting to Radio 1′s target audience of 16- to 24-year-olds – none of whom will remember Margaret Thatcher’s controversial premiership.”

Although iTunes and Amazon credit the song to Judy Garland, her voice doesn’t actually feature on the track, which is performed largely by the Munchkins. In a statement online, the Official Charts Company noted that a 1961 cover version by Ella Fitzgerald “continues to chart separately, but is currently outside the Top 75.”

Before the Munchkins can claim victory, though, they’ll have to beat the current number one single – “Need U (100%)” by someone named Duke Dumont FT A*M*E, which has sold more than 34,000 copies.

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